5 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Get Customers

Looking for business-to-business leads? You’ve come to the right place.

If your business sells to other businesses or business
professionals, then LinkedIn is an ideal sales tool. Because it’s the primary
social network used by business professionals to network and stay abreast of
industry topics, it’s where your customers are.

Here are five ways LinkedIn can help you attract those
customers to your small business right now.

1. Build Your Network

If you connect with a bunch of people on LinkedIn but never
interact with them, those connections are of no use to you. But how do you
interact with your connections without annoying them? Find their interests and
talk about those. Here’s how:

When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you gain full
access to his or her profile, giving you information that you can use to build
a more meaningful connection, such as:

·
The connections that you share in common

·
Where he or she went to school and what he or she
studied

·
Where he or she worked in the past

·
Different places he or she lived (shown in work
history)

You can also glean information to help make meaningful
connections from status updates, which appear in your news feed, the first page
you see when you log in to LinkedIn. Here you’ll see what articles your
connections share as well as autogenerated updates that LinkedIn sends out,
such as birthdays, job changes, work anniversaries and more. It all provides a
great way to follow up and start a conversation with potential prospects.

2. Post Status Updates
to Your LinkedIn Profile

When you post status updates, they show up in your
connections’ newsfeeds. People use their newsfeeds to keep on top of their
connections and their industries. By posting industry-specific status updates,
you can position yourself as a thought leader.

I recommend posting once or twice a day. First and foremost,
think about what your connections and potential customers would find
interesting and informative. Chances are, if it interests you, it will interest
them. Just make sure it isn’t an article touting your business or your product.

Remember: These status updates should be informative and
industry-specific. Include a comment in the status update that shows your
unique perspective or insight into the link you are sharing.

Images tend to stand out in a long list of any social media
status updates. LinkedIn is no exception, but a simple text status update
letting your connections know about something happening in your industry or
professional life is the best place to start.

3.Create a Small Business LinkedIn Page

When you search LinkedIn for a term like “accountant,” the top
results that come back are not individuals who list accountant as their
profession. Rather, accounting companies are first. If you want your company to
show up when people search for the products or services you offer, then you
have to have a company page, which is separate from your personal profile that
you use to build your network.

Fill out all the relevant sections, avoid industry jargon and
instead use the terms that you think your customers will use when searching for
the products or services you offer. For example, while you may be known as a
“CPA” in your industry, your individual clients are more likely to search for
an “accountant.”

As with your personal profile, you can post status updates to
your company page. LinkedIn users have the ability to follow it, and when they
do, they will see your updates.

I recommend posting to your company page less often than your
personal profile, around three or five times per week. But as far as what to
post, the same guidelines apply. Status updates on your personal profile should
establish you personally as an industry expert and status updates on your
company page are meant to do the same for your small business.

4. Participate in
LinkedIn Groups

With more than 2 million groups on LinkedIn, there is likely
one focused on the product or service that you offer. For example, this
group caters to Equestrian enthusiasts. It’s a perfect place to participate
if you have a product or service for people who love horseback riding.

When you answer someone’s question in a LinkedIn group, you
are not only helping that person, but everyone else who views that thread sees
your response as well. Once you have interacted with someone in a group, send
him or her a connection request, and follow up with an email to continue the
discussion.

5. Start Your Own
LinkedIn Group

Having a popular LinkedIn group adds credibility to you and
your company. When you are the founder of a group, you also can email everyone
in the group once per week. This can build a highly targeted email list for
free.

David Waring is the co-founder of FitSmallBusiness.com. He started
his career at Forex Capital Markets, an online currency trading company, which
grew from 9 employees to 700.